The goldies have costia! and Velvet/Piscinoodinium/Oodinium?
3/29/05 I'm a little worried about Bugsy. He's acting fine. eating fine... not flashing. but there are some white areas that I noticed tonite. The ones on his body appear to be focused at the margins of the scales. The patches on his tail appear to be oval. I don't see any fuzzies... it's more like a film.
Right side:
Left side:
Tail:
I saw Stripe flash a couple of times last nite and Coco has been flicking his dorsal fin and he may be clamping a bit. Stripe also has what I think is a boo boo at the base of his tailfin and some dilated veins in his tailfin. I kinda thought it was from Coco getting lovey dovey goldie style... or nitrAtes, but now I'm not sure about that. Since nitrAtes were over 40ppm I went ahead and did a large partial water change and ended up totally cleaning out the plant filter.
3/30/05 I scraped and scoped Bugsy about 5am this morning and confirmed it's costia. Bunch o little beasts.. very motile. curved in one direction and oval looking from the other.
All the plants are now moved to the plant filter and it's disconnected from the main tank. I plan to PP it.
1 tsp per gallon of salt is in the 55 as of 2pm. I plan to take it up to .2% tonite before I crash and then to .3% in the morning.
Per Doc Johnson's Costia Article, I just sedated Bugsy with finquel (3/8 tsp in 30 cups water). It took about 10 minutes for him to roll over on his side. I swabbed him with peroxide taking care not to get it in his gills, rinsed him and put him back in the 55. Held him in front of the powerhead for a bit till he started wanting to take off and he was pretty stoned. when I let him go, he immediately swam to the bottom and thought he'd forage, oh so briefly, kinda snoozed, and then did a few summersaults. He's still a bit slow after an hour but appears ot be doing ok. I don't see the white patches anymore... but his tail is now partially bronze! I hope I didn't overdo it with the peroxide.
This has me wondering if the newbies brought it with them or less likely that Coco's skittishness and acting like something was after him not too long ago (and a major snail die off in the goldie tank) may have been the costia. The newbies are acting happy and I don't see any issues with the danios and tetras who are now in the 20 long (the newbies previous QT tank).
6pm Dipped Coco and Stripe in .6% salt solution for 10 minutes. They tolerated it well.
Added the 480 gph pump with 100 micron filter media.
8pm added 55 tsp salt to the 55. (preddisolved in tank water)
11pm removed the 480 gallon pump for the nite too much water flow. Will add it again in the morning.
3/31/05 9am added 55 tsp salt. Should be up to .39% concentration. Added 400 gph pump with micron filter. The end of Bugsy's tail has multiple splits. He's acting ok. eating fine.
3/31/05 12pm No flashing noted today. Everyone is active and eating fine. Bugsy's tail is shredded.
Right side:
Left side:
Close up of tail:
4/1/05 Costia is 10-15 microns long so I added the 1 micron aquaclear quickfilter. Everyone is acting fine, appetite is good. No flashing or clamping. The rays in the area of necrosis on Bugsy's tail are breaking off. It looks somewhat angry.
Close up of tail:
Left side
Right side
I have to wonder if it's been messing with them for a while now.
Coco has a red area on his side that's been there for a couple of months and hasn't changed much.
Lumpy has had white in the creases on his head for a while now.
Stripe has something recent. At the base of her tail is a scale that's slightly raised. The veins in her tail are also dilated.
4/2/05 I scraped Bugsy twice and saw no costia. There was one organism that looked alive that may have been a costia, however it wasn't moving in the same way that costia moves. I disinfected the plant filter with 3ppm potassium permanganate. It took it around 3 hours to change color... so that should be clean. Activity levels are great as is appetite. I don't see any further deterioration of bugsy's tail, tho I need to get some pics to confirm that. Stripe's talifin looks about the same and the red area on Coco's side *may* be fading.
4/3/05 Everything's the same. activity and appetite good. Don't see any further deterioration of Bugsy's tail.
4/4/05 activity and appetite good. Don't see any further deterioration of Bugsy's tail. The fin edges look white. Stripe's flashing and the base of her tail looks angry. 50% partial water change. Salt should be at about .2%. Around midnight I rubbed neosporin ointment on the boo boo on base of Stripe's tail and on Coco's red spot.
4/5/05 activity and appetite good. No flashing. Don't see any further deterioration of Bugsy's tail. Rubbed neosporin on Coco's red area and on Stripe's tail.
Stripe
Coco
4/6/05 activity and appetite good. No flashing. Don't see any further deterioration of Bugsy's tail. Did a total water change on the plant filter and a 50% partial water change on the goldie tank. Refilled and reconnected the plant filter to the goldie tank.
4/8/05 Coco was twitchin his dorsal fin today. Scraped him and didn't see anything.
4/11/05 More twitching this time from Stripe... no flashing tho. Bugsy looks good. He's getting his color back and the fin edges don't look angry. The 1 micron filter is still in the tank.
4/14/05 Bugsy's looking good. no redness on his tail and the white is less pronounced. Need to get some pics to document the healing. The base of Stripe's tail still looks angry and the veins in the fin are still dilated. It's no better and no worse. She had a 10 minute .6% salt dip on the 31st and neosporin ointment rubbed on it on the 5th. plus the week of .39% salt. It's been 2 weeks. It should be healed by now... I'm moving the tank temp back up from 75 to 78. I'm tempted to peroxide the area and put some more neosporin on it this weekend.
4/16/05 Stripe is doing this weird thing from time to time. She'll move her mouth realy quick multiple times then kinda darted. Haven't seen her flash tho. and her activity levels and appetite are fine. Didn't see any fin twitching last nite when I was watching them.
4/17/05 Both newbies were flashing this evening, Coco's twitching his fins, and Stripe's been twitching her fins. Something's going on. so... I PPd the tank. Figured it couldn't hurt.
Removed the filter pads. Added 2.5ppm PP and when it lost its color, I added another 1.5ppm. when it lost its color I added another 1.5ppm. Maybe stayed pink for 3 hours. I'm fixing to do a partial water change and put the filter pads/biowheels back in.
I'll scrape them tonite or in the morning.
Bugsy's tail appears to be healing.
Crap. I think it's oodinium (Velvet). I've seen a yellow sheen on one of Coco's fins, but hadn't put two and two together. Last nite my daughter noticed yellow spots on the white skirt tetra (which had been in the goldy's tank till recently). Here are some pics from the scrape I just did on Coco. They are at 640X with probably 4x magnification from the digital camera.
I'll dose te goldies with quick cure per JoAnn Burke's dosing schedule:
I'm treating the tetras/danios in a QT tank with Jungle Parasite quick tabs since tetras are sensitive to quick cure.
11pm most of the snails are picked out and the first dose of quick cure is in (71 drops). Tank lights are out. 1 micron filter is in. I haven't seen any flashing today, so hopefully the PP yesterday did its job.
4/18/05 30% partial water change. Everyone's acting fine. no flashing, etc.
4/19/05 the second dose of quick cure is in (71 drops). Everyone's acting fine. no flashing, etc.
4/20/05 30% partial water change. Everyone's acting fine. no flashing, etc.
4/21/05 the last dose of quick cure is in (71 drops). Everyone's acting fine. no flashing, etc.
4/20/05 50% partial water change. added carbon. Everyone's acting fine. no flashing, etc.
4/24/05 I'm not convinced after watching them last nite that the formalin/MG did the trick unless the meds are what is irritating them. Both Coco and Stripe are still twitching their pectoral fins. Saw em both doing the moving their mouths rapidly thing and darting a couple of times... and the yellow sheen isn't totally gone from coco's pectoral fins. Stripe was also clamping one of his pectoral fins. I'll do another partial water change today and do a scrape.
Well it looks to me like they still have whatever it was they had before. Here's some pics from Stripe's scrape.
Since the tetra still had some yellow on him, I moved him in with the goldies and PP'd them. the first 3ppm dose turned brown in a hour (There's probably residual Prime in the tank water). The second 2ppm dose lasted maybe an hour. The last 2ppm dose is in now. The filters are soaking in dechloronated tap water (sometimes having lots of ammonia in tap water is a good thing!). I'm thinking I'll either dose every other day for a week or use Rourk's dosing schedule.
4/26/05 Dosed with 3ppm PP again today per Rourke's instructions.. redosed twice after it lost it's pink color at 2ppm for a total of 6 hours. deactivated with 1.5 tsp peroxide. Stripe hid almost the entire time, but everyone else was out and around and seemed fine. The blood vessles in Stripe's pectoral, pelvic, anal fins and tail are dilated and she's acting a bit antsy after I deactivated the PP with peroxide. I won't dose the next two days per Rourke's dosing schedule. I'm thinking about starting with only 2ppm instead of 3ppm next time. I also have two of the 1 micron filters going in the tank now.
I'm hoping the vasodilation in Stripe's fins is from the PP stressing her rather than a systemic bacteria infection. Her appetite and activity levels are good (which I don't think would be the case if she had some systemic bacterial thing going on). I'll see how she looks in the morning.
Stripe's tail still looks angry. veins look a bit more dilated.
4/28/05 Well, we've had two days with no PP now. I've had the two 1 micron filters going and the 100 micron filter pads in the emperor.
Everyone looks pretty good tho I did see some fin twitching yesterday from Coco. No flashing tho. I'm still seeing the yellow sheen on Coco's pelvic fins, tho it seems to be in the creases now rather than being a patch. The tetra still has yellow on his back. Stripe's tailfin still has dilated vessles. Lumpy has some white mostly in the creases on her head. Probably excess slime. Activity and appetite are fine.
Added 3ppm PP at 9am. everyone's tolerating it fine, tho Stripe's a bit antsy. I redosed at 2ppm after it decolored, and again when it decolored again. deactivated with 1.5 tsp peroxide. and added the filters back to the tank.
4/30/05 Appetite and activity levels are good. no flashing or fin twitching. Stripe's tail still looks about the same. The tetra still has yellowish areas on his back. Coco's pelvic fin still has the yellow shine to it... and Coco now has a raised area on his wen that looks somewhat angry. great. something new.
Bugsy's tail's regrowing fine.
Stripe's tail looks about the same. Still the red area at the base of her tail and the dilated veins.
Lumpy seems to have less white in his creases.
The yellow sheen is still on Coco's pelvic fins.
and the tetra still has yellow.
On a side note... Coco's getting some PUDGY cheeks! :)
but he's also has something going on with his wen now that looks somewhat angry.
5/1/05 Did the last dose of PP per Rourke's dosing schedule and they vacuumed the entire tank. Left the two 1 micron filters in the tank and the 100 micron filters in the emperor. I'm in watch and wait mode to see if it's really gone (I don't think it is cuz Coco still has some yellow on his pelvic fins). The change in Coco's wen appears to be new growth. It doesn't look pink any more. Stripe still has the red area on the base of her tail and the veins are still dilated in her tail. Everyone's acting fine... no flashing or fin flicking. appetite and activity levels are good. Need to scrape and scope again.
5/4/05 Still haven't made a time to do another scrape. Everyone seems fine. No itching evident. *fingers crossed*
5/5/05 Everyone's NOT fine. Just saw the newby and Stripe flashing in earnest. Scraped Stripe.
Scraped Stripe behind her pectoral fin. Got some THICK mucous. The bugs are not motile.
160x zoomed by 4 by the digital camera
640x zoomed by 4 by the digital camera
The rest of the pics are here
Did another round of PP to try and knock whatever this is down till I figure out what to do.
5/6/05 Tracked down more info and more drugs. I'm pretty certain it is Oodinium (Velvet) after looking at the pics in this article. Ended up with acriflavin of unknown concentration and 37% formalin. Decided to go with 2 weeks of formalin at 25ppm dosed 1 day on 5.5. ml/gallon next day 30% partial water change/vacuum, etc. Disconnected the plant filter and moved all the plants from the goldie tank into the plant filter. Did a 60% partial water change and vacuumed well. I have the 400 gph filter and a penguin 170 powerhead with 1 micron filters on them and the venturis going. The tank light is sittng on the mantle, so there's no direct light on the tank. Water temp is at 78. Prepared a QT tub, just in case they didn't tolerate it well. They tolerated it fine.
In Doc Johnson's Koi Health book, he recommends formalin for 2 weeks at 25ppm and indicates that like ich only the free swimming stage is susceptable to treatment. I'll just bet that the week of quick cure wasn't enough because it wasn't dosed for the duration of the lifecycle. and then the PP/micron filter were enough to keep the velvet from taking over, but not enuf to kill them cuz it was only killing (PP days) and reducing the amount of the free swimming stage (micron filters).
Also need to figure out how to treat the plant filter to make sure it's gone there. I'm thinking about heating the plant filter to 86 while I'm treating the goldies and then doing a strong PP dose.
6/3/05 The two weeks of formalin per Doc J's treatment schedule was completed on 5/21/05. Did a total water change on the plant filter before hooking it back up and I added a 16 watt UV unit to the tank. I'm still seeing some occasional fin flicking and flashing. Stripe's tail still has the angry area and dilated vessles. The yellow sheen is still on Coco's pelvic fins. Appetite and activity levels are fine.
The rest of the pics are here.
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Velvet/Piscinoodinium/Oodinium Links:
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